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ADDEESSES 



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AT A MEETING OF 



THE B^H OF ISTEW-YORK, 



ON THE OCCASION OF THE DEATH 



WILLIAM KENT. 






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WILLIAM KENT 



BORN AT ALBANY, ON THE 2d OCTOBER, 1802. 



IDIEID -A-T FISZEiKIILL, 



DUTCHESS COUNTY, 



JANUARY 4th, 1861 



JUDGE KENT 

3DIEID -A.T HIS OOXJISrTR'ir RESTIDEr^CE 

(FISHKILt,, nUTOHESS COUNTY), 

ON THE 4 T II JANUARY, 1861. 

When the melancholy intelligence of his death reached the city, 
on the following day, it was announced in feeling terms in the 
various Courts which were then in session, all of which adjourned, 
in token of their respect for his memory, and of their sense of the 
great loss sustained by the public. 

A meeting of the Bar, called to express the feelings of the 
profession on the death of their distinguished brother, was held in 
the General Term room of the Supreme Court, on the 12th day of 
January, 1861. The following record of its proceedings is publish- 
ed by its order. 

New-York, 1861. 



PROCEEDINGS. 



The meeting was called to order by E. L. Fancher, 
Esq., on wliose motion (pursuant to request of the Com- 
mittee of Arrangements appointed at a previous informal 
meeting of the Bar) the following gentlemen were unani- 
mously apjDointed as officers : 

^ r £ S i b C IT t . 

Hon. DANIEL P. INGRAHAM, 

of the Supreme Court. 

©ice-|3rtsib£iUs. 

Hon. SAMUEL R. BETTS, 

of the U. S. District Court. 

Hon. MURRAY HOFFMAN, 

of the Superior Court. 

Hon. GREENE C. BRONSON, 

ex-Judge of the Supreme Court. 

Hon. lewis B. WOODRUFF, 

of the Superior Court. 

Hon, CHARLES P. DALY, 

of the Court of Common Pleas. 

Hon. JOHN R. BRADY, 

of the Court of Common Pleas. 

DANIEL LORD, Esq. 

^ £ c r £ t a r i c s . 

WILLIAM FULLERTON, Esq. 
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Jr., Esq. 
J, C. CARTER, Esq. 
D. B. EATON, Esq. 



8 

Judge Ingkaham, the Chairman, said : 

We are convened, on this occasion, for the pnr230se of 
paying a tribute to the memory of one long known and 
honored in the midst of us, the late Judge Kent ; and 
probably there was no one at the Bar of New- York whose 
loss will be more deeply felt, and whose death more sin- 
cerely lamented, than his. A long acquaintance with 
him, commencing more than a quarter of a century ago, 
and continued with unabated kindness on his part, down 
to the period of his death, taught me to love and respect 
him, and I doubt not, the feelings which I entertain will 
find a response in the heart of every one who had the privi- 
lege of his friendship. Immediately after his admission to 
the Bar, Judge Kent entered into the practice of the pro- 
fession in this city, and early obtained a rank which older 
praclitioners had failed to reach. In the year 1841, he 
was appointed a Judge of the First Circuit Court, then a 
branch of the Supreme Court, and so discharged the duties 
of that station, that his resignation, in 1845, was received 
with universal regret. Slight attacks of that disease which 
has since prostrated him, induced by an ardent desire, on 
his part, to break down a long calendar left to him by 
his predecessor, caused his retirement from the bench. I 
weU remember, when remonstrated with, in reference to the 
excess of labor which he was, at that time, performing, 
that he expressed the utmost confidence in his strong con- 
stitution and uniform good health ; but a few months taught 
him, as it has others of us who have succeeded him, the 
error which he was committing, and his resignation soon 
followed. To those who knew Judge Kent, it would be 
needless for me to speak of his uniform courtesy and kind- 
ness, of his great simphcity of character, of his high literary 



9 

attainments, of his legal learning, of his judicial ability, 
and of his undoubted integrity. In all these respects he 
was pre-eminent. As a judge, as a lawyer, he displayed 
eminent ability, and I think I may say, without hesitation, 
there never was on the bench of the Supreme Court, in this 
State, a judge more courteous to the Bar, and more kind 
to the young practitioner, or more acceptable to the pro- 
fession, than Judge Kent. But I forbear to speak in detail 
of his character and virtues. It is sufficient for me to say, 
that in private life, Judge Kent was a Christian gentleman, 
without reproach. As a lawyer, he was an ornament to the 
profession. As a judge, he was able, learned, and upright. 
No man could see him but to respect him. None could 
know him but to love him. In all the relations of life he 
was honored; in death he will be mourned. We do well, 
then, to pay honor to his memory, and to record our esteem 
of his character and of his works, that others may be in- 
duced to imitate his example, and to emulate his virtues. 

Hon. John Van Buren said : 

Mr. President : The Bar of the City of New-York have 
received, with emotions of unaffected grief, the sad and start- 
ling intelligence of the death, in the meridian of his life 
and usefulness, of one of their most interesting, accom- 
plished, and distinguished members ; and an informal com- 
mittee of their number have asked me to propose to this 
meeting, called by them, resolutions expressive of our feel- 
ings upon this occasion. Summoned to this melancholy 
duty, I have supposed I should best consult the proprieties 
of my position by presenting for their consideration an ex- 
pression, in the most simple and unadorned phrase, of the 
sense we entertain of the character of our lamented brother. 



10 



and of the loss we have experienced. Intimately associa- 
ted with him in the latter years of his life, admiring his 
brilliant intellect, thorough and general learning, rare ac- 
quirements, and high personal qualities, it is to the native 
diffidence of his character that I offer tribute in the sim- 
plicity of the resolutions I propose ; and upon my assurance 
of what his own modest nature would have preferred, that 
I venture, when I confine the proposed general expression 
by us within such limited terms. Those present, who will 
speak in detail of the life and character of William Kent, 
will be unable to restrain themselves within such narrow 
bounds. Dwelling upon the incidents of his judicial and 
professional career, and lingering over the recollections of 
his charming personal life, enthusiasm becomes natural and 
eulogy just. And if the veil should be drawn aside which 
conceals from public observation his domestic life, and we 
should stop to contemplate the happy relations of dependence 
and love which this death has severed, it would almost 
cause a murmur at the decree of Providence that occasions 
an affliction so sad for a purpose so inscrutable. 

Mine be the more humble office of presenting, for your 
unreserved disposition, resolutions touching the more gene- 
ral and striking features in the character of William Kent, 
appropriate, as it seems to me, for adoption by this meeting, 
dictated in sincerity and truth by those who respected and 
loved him while living, and will ever honor his memory. 

Re.^olred, That the members of the Bar of the city of New- York are 
profoundly sensible of the loss sustained by them in the death of their 
late associate, William Kent. 

That, in contemplating the character of our deceased brother, we 
naturally and fondly revert to those qualities of his mind and heart 
which graced his personal demeanor and intercourse ; to his ever- 
cheerful temper, his warm affections, and genial sympathies, his fresh 



11 



and playful spirit, and to the rare, varied, and extensive literary and 
classical acquirements which he possessed in such richness, and held 
in such ever-ready command. 

That, while thus mindful of the personal attractions now lost to us 
forevei', we should not omit to testify our high appreciation of the 
professional learning, the clear and persuasive method of reasoning, 
the nice power of discrimination, unvarying industry, strict sense of 
justice, inflexible integrity, and great practical wisdom, which illus- 
trated and adorned his career as a leading member of the Bar, and as 
a distinguished Judge of this Circuit, reflecting additional honor upon 
the great name he inherited, and placing his memory justly by the 
side of that of his illustrious father. 

That we tender the expression of our sincere condolence to the 
afflicted family of the deceased, and that a copy of these resolutions, 
signed by the officers of this meeting, be transmitted to them, and be 
also published in the newspapers of this city. 

Benjamin D. Silliman, Esq., sj^oke as follows : 

Mr. President : I move the adoption of the resolutions 
which have been presented by Mr. Van Buren. They ex- 
press, I am sure, the feelings and the judgment of this 
numerous meeting of the Bar, which is not convened in 
mere accordance with the usage of rendering the tribute due 
to the honored dead, but the spontaneous impulse of our 
hearts has brought us together to give utterance to our 
grief at the loss of one whom we have long loved as well 
as honored. 

It might, perhaps, be difficult to say whether Judge Kent 
was more remarkable for his intellectual and professional, or 
for his moral superiority ; but that which, in this hour of 
bereavement, touches us most nearly, is the surrender which 
we must make to the remorseless grave of one whose gen- 
erous and gentle nature, whose genial sympathy, whose warm 
affections, had so endeared him to us, that our admiration of 
the lawyer, the jurist, and the scholar, was even exceeded 



12 

by our attachment, by our love for the man. He is cut off 
from us in the very glory of his manhood, with his facul- 
ties and his affections in the fullness of their strength and 
action — ere age had dimmed their brilliancy, or impaired 
their power, or chilled their ardor. 

Judge Kent was born in Albany, in 1802. He had the 
best advantages of education. After being graduated at 
Union College, he pursued the studies and entered the 
professsion in which his father, the great Chancellor, stood 
pre-eminent. He commenced his career as a lawyer, in one 
respect, under a disadvantage — that of the shadow of a 
great name. The world is apt to measure the son of a great 
man by an unfair standard. Instead of passing on his 
merits and talents by comparison with those of other young 
jnen — his cotemporaries and peers — it withholds its com- 
mendation unless he displays ability which would add to 
his father's fame. But Mr. Kent quickly showed himself 
equal even to such a test. He was early engaged in very im- 
portant causes, in which he manifested powers and learning 
that placed him at once in the foremost rank of the profes- 
sion ; and well did he sustain his place there, adding new 
lustre to the illustrious name he bore. 

His natural gifts were of the highest order, and his at- 
tainments were such as would have rendered a man of 
merely common mind distinguished. He possessed remark- 
able power of analysis, and saw, with the quickness of intu- 
ition, the right and morality of a case, and the principles of 
law involved, and he was ever ready with the learning of 
the law requisite for their illustration. The force of his 
argument was aided by the singular felicity and purity of 
the language in which it was always clothed. So beautiful 
and attractive was his style, so happy his illustrations, so 



13 



abounding in wit, and grace, and learning, and thought, 
that, whether he was arguing a case or trying a cause, not 
only the court or jury which he was addressing, hut all who 
were present, having no concern with the subject, including 
alike the members of the bar and mere spectators, were 
always eager and delighted listeners. 

The time and occasion hardly warrant me in adverting 
in detail to the leading cases in the arguments of which 
Judge Kent was distinguished. There are present many 
who were engaged with him, either as associates or oppo- 
nents, in those cases, and none can be more earnest than 
they in commendation of the power and learning manifested 
by him in their discussion. 

He continued in the active practice of the profession until 
1841, when he was appointed to the office of Circuit Judge, 
on the retirement of the Hon. Ogden Edwards, and " when 
the ermine rested on his shoulders, it touched nothing less 
spotless than itself" Never were the high duties of a judge 
performed with more of purity or fidelity. Never were the 
scales held by a more even hand. Never were the kindly 
and charitable impulses of a gentle nature more entirely 
restrained and subordinated to the duty of an inflexible and 
impartial administration of the law, whether in criminal or 
in civil cases. In 1844, his health having been impaired by 
too close application to his judicial duties, he resigned his 
station on the bench, to the great — it is not extravagant 
to say the universal — regret of the profession and of tlie 
community. 

He then visited Europe, and while there, in 1846, received 
the invitation, which he accepted, from Harvard University, 
to succeed Judge Story in the Law School at Cambridge. 
The same industry, and success, and usefulness, which had 



14 

marked his previous career, attended his services in the Law 
School, until the close of 1847, when he resigned his pro- 
fessorship, that he might be with his venerable father, whose 
twilight was then fast fading into night. 

Judge Kent then resumed the practice of the law, and 
from that time forward continued it in this city with emi- 
nent success. Among the remarkable cases in which he bore 
a distinguished part, was that of Clarke vs. Fisher (re- 
ported in \st Paige B.), in which were considered the nature 
and degree, and condition of mental power of the testator, 
requisite to make a valid will. His argument was one of 
singular ability and learning. It was one of the earliest 
cases in which he was engaged, and one in which, in the 
judgment of the bench and the bar, he achieved just, as well 
as great, distinction. 

I may also mention the case of the State of Illinois vs. 
Delajield (8 Paige), as to the power of State officers to 
bind the State in borrowing money for its use, and the 
limitations of such j)ower ; the cases of Warner vs. Beers, 
and Bolander vs. Stevens (23o? Wendell), involving the 
momentous and vital question of the constitutionality of 
the General Banking Law ; the great case, so universally 
known in the profession, and out of it, of Curtis vs. Leavitt 
{17th Barbour and 1 Smith), in which many most im- 
portant principles were discussed, and an immense amount 
of property was at stake ; and that of Beehman vs. The 
People (27th Barbour), involving the law and recondite 
learning of charitable uses. In these cases (not to speak of 
very many others) Mr. Kent exhibited ability of the highest 
order and the rarest learning, and earned a reputation which 
(in the language of one of the resolutions before us) placed 
his memory justly by the side of his illustrious father. 



15 

The great men of the bar were engaged in the learned 
discussions of those eases. I may not name those of them 
who are still among us, and most of whom are now present, 
but of those who are gone were Jones and Jay, and Ogden 
and Webster, and Griffin and Sandford, and Spencer and 
Beardsley, and Hill and Butler. Such were the allies and 
the adversaries of our departed brother — such were his 
friends and compeers — such were the great intellects with 
which his own found congenial intercourse. 

He had latterly withdrawn somewhat from his practice in 
the courts, but still continued in the active duties of the 
profession. His opinion and advice were sought in im- 
portant cases. Difficult and intricate cases were constantly 
referred to him for decision, and weighty and resj)onsible 
trusts, embracing vast interests and amounts of property, 
were eagerly confided to his charge and guidance by indi- 
viduals and by the courts. 

_ Judge Kent possessed, as did his father, a most remarkable 
memory. He forgot nothing. Every fact, every rule, every 
principle, when once attained, remained with him always. 
He combined what are, perhaps, rarely combined, large 
general knowledge with great accuracy of knowledge. As a 
ielhs lettres scholar he had few equals in this country. His 
reading was not limited by the ordinarily wise rule, " non 
multa sed multum," but it was both multa et multum. 
Whatever he studied he studied thoroughly. He read 
everything, and he remembered everything. What he read 
did not remain with him a mere accumulation of knowledge 
and ideas, but became part of his mental nature, storing 
and strengthening his mind without impairing its origi- 
«iality. A mind thus enriched, and with such resources, 
could never have suffered from solitude. It would find 



16 

within itself abundant and choice companionship. Emi- 
nently was this the case with our departed friend and with 
his venerable father. 

Chancellor Kent, during his last illness, passed many 
silent watches of the night without sleep. When asked if 
in those long, sleepless hours, he suffered from depression 
and sad feelings, he replied that he did not — hut that, on 
the contrary, he then derived great satisfaction in reviewing 
in his mind sometimes some leading principle of the law — 
going back to its origin — to the reasons from which it 
sprang — and then recalling in their order the subsequent 
cases, in England and in this country, in which it had been 
considered, shaped, enlarged, or qualified down to the final 
settled rule ; at other times he would select some period of 
history — perhaps some English reign — and recall its politics, 
its law, its eminent men, its military acts, and its literature, 
in connection with the cotemporaneous history and con- 
dition of other countries ; sometimes a campaign, perha;^s 
of Alexander, or C«sar, or Marlborough, or Napoleon, with 
its plan, its policy, its incidents, and its results. 

Judge Kent's general reading was but little inferior to his 
father's. I doubt whether the Chancellor, at the same 
period of life, had been able to devote so much of his time 
to other reading than of law, as his son had done. 

One of the early symptoms of the disease which termi- 
nated Judge Kent's life, was the loss (some months ago) of 
vision of one of his eyes. He had reason to fear that he 
should become entirely blind, but when he spoke of it he 
added, that it would not make him sad or unhappy, for he 
remembered all the books he had read, and when he could 
no longer see he should mentally re-peruse them all. 

It is a grateful reflection that, until his last illness, his 



17 

life had been one of almost unclouded happiness, save in the 
loss of his parents. Honors sought him, prosperity at- 
tended him, friends loved him, and now deeply lament his 
loss. I have never known a man whose happy temper, and 
warm heart, and kind and genial sympathies, so won and 
attached to him all, of all classes, who came in contact with 
him, or so conduced to the happiness of all about him. I 
have never known a man whose wit, and humor, and know- 
ledge, and wisdom, were so abounding and so blended, and 
the instructiveness, and beauty, and grace, and simplicity of 
whose conversation, so attracted and fascinated. I have 
never known a man more fearless in asserting the right, and 
in the performance of what he deemed his duty. I have 
never known a man more inflexible in principle, or more 
strictly upright. , Thougii to a stranger what I have said 
might appear the strained language of eulogy, yet this 
meeting is full of witnesses of its truth. 

Mr. President, death has of late swayed his scythe' 
fearfully through the ranks of our profession. How many 
familiar faces have disappeared — how many voices of the 
learned, the wise, the brilliant, the good, to which we have 
listened within these walls, are stilled forever. Of your 
honored companions who dispensed justice from the Bench, 
3rones, and Morris, and Edwards, and Sandford, and Paine, 
and Oakley, and Duer, and Mason, have gone in close pro- 
cession ; and, among others from the Bar whose learning, and 
talents, and virtues, adorned our calling, the grave now hides 
forever from us the forms of Hoffman, and Ogden, and 
Grifiin, and Sandford, and Spencer, and Hill, and Wood, 
and Butler, and Miller, and him to whose memory we are 
now assembled to pay this last tribute of aifection and 
respect. 

2 



18 

His death was one of peace, as his life had been one of 
uprightness. He had so lived and so believed, that when he 
came to walk through the dark valley he " feared no evil ;" 
but, leaning on the rod and the staff which can alone sup- 
port man in that dread hour, he was 

" sustained and soothed 



By an unfaltering trust, and approached his grave 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 

I will not trust myself to speak of the personal relations 
and almost life-long intimacy that make his death to me 
indeed a calamity, nor of the hopeless sorrow of that home 
of which he was the light, the pride, and the joy ; but, with 
the same beautiful invocation which he so lately uttered on 
the death of Mr. Butler, let me say : '• Tread lightly on his 
ashes, ye men of genius, for he was your kinsman ! Weed 
clean his grave, ye men of goodness, for he was your 
brother." 

Ex-Judge Foot said : 

Mr, Chairman : The duty of seconding the adoption of 
the resolutions which have been presented to the meeting, 
has been assigned to me. That duty is freely discharged, 
as I fully concur in the sentiments expressed in the reso- 
lutions, and it is moreover grateful to my feelings to have 
so suitable an opportunity to manifest my regard for the 
memory of our deceased brother, with whom I have stood 
'in intimate relations of business and friendship for a life- 
time. After graduating with credit at Union College, he 
was placed by his distinguished father. Chancellor Kent, at 
Kinderhook, under the instruction of Peter Van Schaick, 
one of the most learned and accomplished lawyers of this 



19 



State, and wlio had then been compelled to retire from 
active service by reason of his impaired sight. There he 
passed, I think, two years, studying and acquiring a knowl- 
edge of the 23rinciples of his profession. He then came to 
Albany, where his father resided, and, in the year 1822, 
entered my office to complete his clerkship, and more espe- 
cially to acquire a knowledge of pleading and practice. He 
remained with me until the autumn of 1823, when his 
father removed to this city, and he came with him. While 
in my office he was active, attentive, and studious. He 
finished his clerkship in this city with the Hon. Josiah 
Ogden Hoffman, and, on being admitted to the Bar, entered 
into copartnership with him. I removed from Albany to 
this city in May, 1828, and entered into copartnership with 
our deceased brother. We continued in copartnership for 
two years, and occupied offices in connection with his father. 
In June, 1828, the Franklin Bank failed, and Chancellor 
Walworth appointed Chancellor Kent receiver. The affairs 
of that bank were greatly extended and complicated, which 
gave our firm of Foot & Kent a large and lucrative busi- 
ness. My nephew, Henry E. Davies, the present Judge of 
the Court of Appeals, having removed from Buffalo to this 
city, a new business arrangement was made in the spring of 
1830. Mr. Davies entered into copartnership with me, and 
Mr. Kent formed a connection with William S. Johnson. 
The partnership of Foot & Davies continued till the spring 
of 1847, when I removed to Geneva, and then our deceased 
brother took my place, and formed a copartnership with 
Mr. Davies. This connection continued for several years. 
On my way home from this city to Greneva, near the end 
of the month of September last, I stopped at Fishkill to 
pass a Sabbath with my relative, Judge Davies, and visit 



20 

my friend, Judge Kent. At the close of tlie Sabbath, 
Judge Davies and I called upon Judge Kent. We found 
him walking in his lawn. As soon as he saw me he ap- 
proached and met me. It was our first meeting since his 
illness. Enfeebled by sickness, he could not command his 
feelings, nor could I entirely command my own. After 
walking with him some time over his beautiful grounds, 
conversing sparingly, and on topics least calculated to excite 
our sensibilities, we entered his house. A pleasant conver- 
sation with him and his family ensued. Fearing to prolong 
my visit, though urged by him to do so, I took leave of 
him, apprehensive that it would be, as it was, our last meet- 
ing. Thus closed an intimate business and social inter- 
course, which lasted for thirty-seven years, without an inci- 
dent or a remark to interrupt or mar its happiness. This 
enables me to speak of our deceased brother with knowledge, 
and to say, what simple truth requires me to say, that he 
was an honest man, a good lawyer, a learned and upright 
judge, a ripe scholar, and a finished gentleman. In one 
respect he excelled all men I have ever known, and that was, 
in the care and watchfulness with which he avoided inju- 
ring the feelings of others. No person, high or low, rich or 
poor, ever heard him make a rude, harsh, or unkind re- 
mark. It was a lovely trait of his character, and one which 
rendered him so acceptable, as he was, to all. I could 
recall and dwell for hours on pleasing incidents of his 
well-spent life, but they are more appropriate for the social 
circle, or retired contemplation, than public exhibition. My 
feelings lead me rather to think than to speak of him ; and 
I will close my remarks with the observation that we may 
justly be proud of our country and institutions, when in the 
one, and under the fostering influence of the other, men 
like William Kent are raised, live, and die. 



21 



Judge Thomas W. Clerke said : 

Mr. Chairman : At the request of tlie Committee, I rise 
most clieerfuUy, and yet most sorrowfully, to concur in 
the resolutions. 

For the period of thirty years, during which I have been 
engaged at the Bar, and on the Bench, in the adminis- 
tration of the law in this city, this is the first time I have 
felt justified to speak to a resolution upon an occasion 
of this kind. Not that all the individuals, whose death 
summoned assemblages of their brethren to testify their 
respect and grief, were unworthy of eulogy, but because I 
could not, with truth say, that I personally knew enough 
of their characters and manner of life to enable me to offer 
any satisfactory comments concerning them. Besides, on 
some of those occasions, I imagined a disposition to bestow 
praise without discrimination, to give credit for qualities 
not possessed ; or, at least, to exaggerate the merits of the 
deceased. But, on the present occasion, I may truly say, I 
speak that which I know ; and, although I had not frequent 
opportunity of very familiar intercourse with Judge Kent, 
I have been rather intimately acquainted with him during 
the whole period of my professional and judicial career. His 
sagacity, his suavity, and his legal learning, attracted my 
early notice and regard ; and I have not been inattentive 
to the incidents and course of his professional and public 
conduct. Therefore, the trifling and imperfect tribute 
which I am able to offer on this occasion, is not offered 
in obedience to frigid custom — is not the tribute of dry 
routine — is not the hollow adulation of the lips, but is the 
voluntary homage of the heart, founded on sufficient knowl- 
edge of the man, and fortified by the unhesitating voice of 
the community in which he lived. 



22 



To say that William Kent was a gentleman of integrity, 
of unblemished life, of elevated and honorable sentiments, 
of great discernment and intelligence, exhibiting affable 
manners, and possessing professional skill and knowledge, 
would only be saying what could, with equal truth, be 
said of many others. These qualities, indeed, he possessed 
and exhibited in an eminent degree. But I should be 
doing injustice to my subject, if I did not mention the 
characteristics which, I think, distinguished him from ordi- 
nary men. To a profound knowledge of the principles and 
history of the law, he added the graces of suj^erior literary 
culture, and a thorough and extensive acquaintance with 
the classic authors of our language. This infused into his 
mind a taste, which manifested itself in all his compo- 
sitions, legal or general. In these you discover no cum- 
brous redundancy, no attenuation of the thought, no strain- 
ing for display, no useless parade of authorities, no abortive 
attempts at high rhetorical flights, which the subject did 
not require, or which the writer could not sustain. His 
style was lucid, complete, and elegant. He disdained un- 
necessary words and meretricious ornament. In short, he 
was learned without pedantry, precise without ostentation, 
and copious without prolixity. 

As we all know, he was the son of one of the most emi- 
nent jurists whom this country has produced, and although, 
in some respects, it is an advantage to inherit the name 
of a distinguished parent, yet it is not without its draw- 
backs and difficulties. Too much is generally expected 
from a person inheriting such a name, and everything he 
does in his profession, even when he exhibits considerable 
attainment and capacity, is apt to be severely criticised, 
and unfavorably contrasted with the riper endowments of 



23 

liis father. This is often accompanied by a popular opin- 
ion, founded on something savoring of a superstitious no- 
tion, that great abilities are seldom transmissible to a man's 
descendants — a notion undoubtedly at variance with the 
teachings of experience and of mental science, but, never- 
theless, like a host of other errors, very generally held. 
The subject of our remark, I suppose, encountered those 
difficulties, but he successfully surmounted them ; and al- 
though he was not as extensively known as the Chancellor, 
all who did know him, capable, of forming an opinion, 
believed that the ability and learning of the son were not 
inferior to those of the father. He was only a short time, 
comparatively, on the bench, and he never wrote a volumi- 
nous work, like the Commentaries on American Law ; but 
I am sure, if he remained long enough on the bench, or if 
he chose to employ his talents in the production of a legal 
treatise, his reputation would not suffer in comparison 
with that of his father. Indeed, he could have attained 
fame and the highest position in any pursuit requiring the 
exercise of high intellectual qualities ; but his ambition 
was chastened and moderate, and he seemed to have no 
aspirations for place or popular applause. He was one of 
those, of whom the poet says, 

" Although he could command, he slighted fame." 

All who knew him, I am persuaded, feel this day that 
the Nation, the State, and the local community in which 
he lived, have sustained a serious bereavement. But our 
loss is, I trust, his gain. He has left us in the height 
of a fearful crisis in our country's history. In the words 
of the evangelical prophet, I may say : " The righteous 
perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart ; and merciful 



24 



men are taken away, none considering tliat the riglitcous 
are taken away from the evil to come." Our de]3arted bro- 
ther is spared, probably, the necessity of witnessing what 
to him would be worse than many deaths — the dread catas- 
troj^he which, we have too much reason to fear, is now 
impending over us — which I pray God, even now, in His 
infinite mercy, to avert. Judge Kent would rather have 
died, if it were left to his option, than to behold the great 
Kepublican Empire of the West shattered into miserable 
fragments — fi'eedom's brightest hopes obscured, perhaps 
forever blighted — the utter and shameful failure of the 
most goodly and most complete experiment of self-govern- 
ment ever designed. No, he loved his country too fervently 
to desire that he should survive her downfall. To such a 
mind as his there is something agonizing in the thought 
of the extinction of this nation ; and, if such a direful 
calamity should be approaching, many a patriotic heart 
in this land would consider William Kent a happy man 
in dying before its consummation. 

I conclude, sir, by cordially concurring in the resolutions 
proposed. 

Samuel E. Lyon, Esq., said : 

Mr. President : The custom of meeting, as a body, to 
testify our respect for the memory of a departed brother, 
obtains only, so far as I have observed, among our own 
profession, and the havoc that death has made among us 
within a few years, has called us together with painful 
frequency. These meetings are characteristic of our pro- 
fession ; for any one who is familiar with our traditions, or 
has noticed the daily incidents of our lives, must have seen 
that we are more closely allied to each other, and more 



25 

really interested in the success and advancement of each 
other, than is the case in most other callings in life ; and 
when death comes among us, it seems to me that we 
really feel that we have had, in the kindly language of 
our guild, a brother taken from us. To-day, no term less 
near would symbolize our feelings, for our departed friend 
was in truth beloved by all who came within the sphere of 
his attraction. To-day, we think only of his heart, and that 
great flood of warmth which he shed upon those whom 
he loved. To-day, we forget that luminous mind and 
exhaustless memory, and pay our tribute to the true man 
and cordial friend, the grasp of whose hand will meet ours 
no more. At a future time some fitting pen will do justice 
to his intellect — for the present we commune over his ashes 
in view of the things which the head did not fashion, the 
recollection of which almost makes children of us, and seeks 
to express itself in words and forms as simple as children 
would use, grieving over a lost companion. 

No one realizes a great loss at the moment the blow falls. 
God, in his mercy, has made this to be so : but those of us 
who have known Mr. Kent for many years, and have been 
admitted into the inner temple of his friendship, and have 
passed that period of life after which men make few new 
friends, will realize, with a consciousness deepening day by 
day into our hearts, that no inconsiderable part of our store 
of interest and affection has gone down with him into his 
grave forever. Yet the memory of his kindly smile and 
genial tones will stay with us as long as we have a memory 
to hold the precious gifts of life. 

But, outside of this small circle, and still outside of that 
larger circle who esteemed and admired him from the most 
casual acquaintance, Mr. Kent held a peculiar relation to 

f 



26 



all the lawyers, and, indeed, I might say with truth, to all 
the people of this State. 

We held him as one of the heir-looms of the law, and 
cherished him as a birthright of the profession. There 
was not a law student, in the most remote county in the 
State, with whom the name of Kent did not become asso- 
ciated with his first lesson in jurisprudence, and who knew 
that down in the city of New- York there was one upon 
whom the name had descended, worthy to bear the great 
and spotless mantle that had fallen upon his shoulders. 
As the only son of him who may be said almost to have 
created that branch of our jurisprudence upon which es- 
pecially he shed the light of his intellect, and bestowed the 
labor of the best part of his life, we considered the child 
of his loins, in one sense, a co-heritage with that monument 
of his judicial life, and while we gave to the one our admi- 
ration, we added for the other our esteem and love. Even 
at this moment we rejoice to know that they will go down 
to the coming years together, and that, joined as they were 
in life, in death they are not severed. 

I do not believe there is a name connected with the his- 
tory of this State, whose work commenced after the adoption 
of our Federal Constitution, which is held in the same 
degree of affectionate regard, even among laymen, as that 
of Kent. Its inscription upon the roll, where we preserve 
our honored names, stands in more clearly defined characters 
now, than on the day when his life passed into the domain 
of history. It is the best tribute that, in this hour of 
bereavement, we can render to the memory of our departed 
friend, that he never sullied that name, or darkened one ray 
of its conspicuous lustre ; and we cling the more fondly 
to the memory of our brother, for that he did maintain the 



27 

high standard of his inheritance, in spite of his eminently 
good fortune. With such a name . to fall back upon, with 
ease, if not affluence, always at his command, and never 
feeling the spur of necessity, why should he enter the arena 
of that hard struggle, which begins with its summons upon 
a wearied brain as the new year dawns, and does not end 
when the old year goes out ? the soreness of which you, my 
brethren, alone know, and which these faces around me, 
pallid with toil, and seared with tracks not made by years, 
too well attest. 

That he did so, and made a record for himself that would 
have been honored and loved if his father had left him 
obscure in name and poor in purse, is one of his highest 
claims to our respect, and while we will pay a proper hom- 
age to his lineage, we will cherish his memory in our heart 
of hearts, for those best things which he himself bestowed 
upon us. 

Wm. Fullerton, Esq., said : 

Mr. President : In speaking to the resolutions offered, I 
shall not enter into any detail of the life or character of 
William Kent. That would be but a repetition of what has 
been so well said by those who have preceded me. In 
offering my feeble tribute to his memory, I shall ask your 
attention, therefore, but for a moment. 

This saddened audience recalls to our minds the many 
occasions on which we have been assembled, within the past 
few years, to honor the worthy dead. 

How many shining lights of the Bench and the Bar have, 
within a brief period, been extinguished by the hand of 
death ! 

Judges Jones, Edwards, Oakley, Duer, and IngersoU, no 



28 

longer adorn their wonted places, and the voices of Sandford, 
Wood, Butler, and Hill, are no longer heard in the peaceful 
conflicts of our Courts. 

Thus, one after another, the good and the great are 
passing from among us, 

" To keep 
That calm sleep 
Whence none may awake." 

No man would be more missed by his circle of friends 
than Judge Kent. For, who of them has not been the 
recipient of his kindness ? Who of them has not felt 
the magic of his presence, and been charmed by his 
genial wit and humor ? Who of them has not profited 
by his counsel, and enriched himself from the treasures 
of his learning ? And above all, who of them has not 
.been strengthened by that unbending integrity, that strong 
sense of justice, which marked his whole life, whether 
he held the scales between contending parties, or moved in 
the less conspicuous sphere of private or professional duty ? 

He will be missed by judges: for he had an experience 
from which they could learn wisdom. 

He will be missed by lawyers : for whose name was so 
readily agreed to, to determine the rights of litigating 
parties, in that important class of cases which are tried out 
of court, as his — not more for his great learning, than be- 
cause his name was a guarantee that those rights would be 
judged, not only by a sound and discriminating mind, but 
by one whose integrity was above every earthly temptation. 

He will be missed by his personal friends : for his winning 
manners, amiable temper, and kind and affectionate nature, 
made him a companion never to be forgotten. 

There is another place where he will be missed, of which 



29 

it is scarcely proper for me to speak. But wlio tliat has 
seen him surrounded by the sweet attractions of a home, 
where he was the beloved and honored head, can fail to 
contemplate the desolation which has fallen there ? 

Judge Kent's death, though sudden, was not unexpected. 
The character of his disease was such, that for many months 
past it has been certain that his active usefulness was at an 
end, and his days numbered. 

I have a painfully vivid recollection of the day when 
his physician, for the first, communicated to him the fatal 
nature of his malady. Up to that time it had not been 
suspected. Surrounded as he was by everything that could 
contribute to human happiness, and possessing an exquisite 
taste for the world's innocent enjoyments, the announcement 
was a blow as severe as it was unexpected. He yielded to 
his fate with a becoming submission, but from that time he 
sank, 

" yet so calm and meek, 



So tearless, yet so tender — kind, 
So grieved for those he left behind," 

that the close of his life was a continued exhibition of those 
graces which were so prominent in his character. 

In honoring such a man we honor ourselves. 

I will not consume the time which belongs to others, but 
close my brief remarks by adverting to the moral beauty, as 
well as propriety, of these proceedings. 

As a class, we have paused for an hour, arrested the busi- 
ness of our offices and courts, that the death of one of our 
number, eminent for his virtues and noble life, may make its 
suitable impression upon our own hearts, to the end that we 
may, to some extent, imitate those virtues, and follow his 
example. 



30 

Nothing would so much honor the memory of him whom 
we all deplore. For thus would our lives become his living 
monument, and the princij)les which guide us, his appro- 
priate epitaph. 

Happy will it he for us, and for those around us, if the 
contemplation of the character of Wiliam Kent shall enable 
us to shed around our path some of the many blessings 
which ever in-adiated his. 

Mr. Maxwell said : 

After what has been said so eloquently and so well, little 
remains to illustrate the character of our lamented friend 
and brother. The young and the aged meet together to do 
honor to the memory of Kent. I come to claim the privi- 
lege of lamenting, in common with my younger brethren, the 
death of our friend ; and though our eyes be somewhat dim 
— though the words flow less readily from the tongue than 
they were wont to do — we are not less deeply affected than 
younger men who deplore the death of the good and the 
wise — one whom we loved and honored for his excellence of 
mind and heart ; and we come, on this occasion, impressed 
with the sentiment of the great English moralist, " Far from 
us be that frigid philosophy that would conduct us, indiffer- 
ent and unmoved, over any ground ennobled by wisdom, 
learning, or virtue." 

We have heard from eloquent gentlemen a just eulogium 
on the professional and moral character of Judge Kent. 
They have referred to the overshadowing influence of his 
father's name, and how the son persevered, with modest 
views of his own personal merits, relying upon them alone 
for professional success. 

Undoubtedly there might have been a drawback, from the 



31 

fact that the public attributed to the illustrious Chancellor 
acquirements which were scarcely to be obtained by the ex- 
ertion of the son. This may, in some degree, be true ; 
but I think the young men at the Bar will not fail to 
recognize and do honor to the moral beauty and courage 
in the character of Kent, as exemplified by the unaffected, 
simple demeanor of his life and manners. At an early age 
he was thrown into frequent intercourse with many dis- 
tinguished men, who frequented the house of his honored 
father. This brought with it the danger of an exaggerated 
self-esteem — a false estimate of one's self, under such cir- 
cumstances — too often the infirmity of common men. But, 
gentlemen, from this trial Kent came forth unscathed. He 
came forth without a taint of affectation, without a taint 
of arrogance or presumption. Was not such an ordeal more 
hazardous than that trial which attends so many young men 
of the profession — who are obliged to fight the battle of life 
to attain a position only to be won by nights of study and 
days of toil, and often amidst the ills of adverse fortune ? 

My friend, Mr. Silliman, has spoken of the genial temper 
and of the kind feelings in social life by which Judge Kent 
was endeared to his friends. There are some here who have 
seen him in moments when he threw off' the cares and anxi- 
eties of judicial and professional life : some of us — alas ! 
how few — ^have met him in the brotherhood of the Bar, 
when "the feast of reason and the. flow of soul" consecrated 
and ennobled the " sccence nodes quis deorum." 

Allusion has been made to the literary character of our 
lamented friend. He was eminently distinguished as a 
scholar of highly cultivated taste. In the range' of French 
and English literature, few professional men excelled him 
in the extent and variety of his reading. He was well versed 



32 



in the classics of G-reece and Eome. From sucli sources yve 
may conclude that he acquired, cherished, and honored the 
glorious sentiment of Kobert Burns : 

" The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
The man's the gowd, for a' that." 

Mr. President, you have referred, in eloquent terms, to 
Kent as a lawyer and a judge ; others have united in simi- 
lar terms of eulogy. The gentlemen and scholars of Cam- 
bridge have testified to the high estimate you have ex- 
pressed, accustomed to judge others by the standard of 
their Websters, their Everetts, and their Storys. Kent was 
thought worthy of distinguished professional honors of Har- 
vard. Then, what shall be said of him in his judicial 
character ? You have said, Mr. President, that the ermine 
he wore was pure and untainted. You may say, too, with 
truth, that he came upon the bench with sentiments without 
which the character of a judge, under our present system, 
is hardly respectable. He came upon the bench with a just 
appreciation of the dictanter of Lord Mansfield : "I wish 
popularity — popularity which follows, not that which is run 
after — popularity which, sooner or later, will not fail to 
accomplish noble ends by noble means." He felt the truth 
and force of the sentiments of the great Koman magistrate : 
" Ego hoc animo semjjer Jin ut invidiatn virtute jpartam — 
gloriam non invidiam puforem." 

Sir, he was honored and beloved for his intellectual excel- 
lence, and for the best impulses of a pure and noble nature. 
He has left an example which, I trust, will find many imi- 
tators among the young men of the profession. After a 
long sickness, the command of Heaven was heard : " Set 
thy house in order ; thou shalt die, and not live." We 



33 

have reason to believe, Mr. President, that the voice of God 
fell not upon heedless ears. We have reason to believe and 
to rejoice, that Kent died in the full fruition of Christian 
faith and hope. 

James T. Brady, Esq., said : 

You may be surprised, Mr. President, that I should 
rise to address this meeting of my brethren at so late an 
hour of the day, and after the touching display that has 
been already made in doing justice to the memory of the 
worthy man whose loss we now deplore, and whose virtues 
we commemorate. He has been spoken of in fitting terms 
of eulogy by his opponents, his associates, his intimate 
friends ; by the young with reverence, by the old with 
grief — and, of these latter, by one who comes among us 
almost from a past generation,* in the full fruition of the 
honors he so deservedly wears. We hear his welcome voice 
proclaiming, in words of truth, the great merit that belonged 
to the deceased, and the solemn duty we owe his memory. 

This, sir, would be enough for any man in any period 
of the world's history. It would have been an adequate 
tribute if offered in behalf of that great orator who flour- 
ished in the palmiest days of Rome, and to whom our friend, 
Mr. Maxwell, referred, when he quoted to our delighted 
ears a beautiful passage in that grand old tongue which, 
it would seem, no worldly change can eradicate, no lapse of 
time efface. 

I am compelled to say, that I feel reluctant to disturb 
the harmony of these proceedings by the unconsidered 
phrases which I must employ at this time. In endeavor- 
ing to express myself as I should wish, I feel not less 

* Hon. Hugli Maxwell 

3 



34 

hopeless than did poor Kuth, when she '^ stood amidst the 
alien corn." There is, in truth, no gleaning to be done 
here. All that 1 can attempt, is to take the thoughts 
and words that lie scattered in my intellect, or rise unbid- 
den to my tongue, and lay them as a heartfelt otfering, 
and with all sincerity, on the grave of my departed friend. 
His exquisite taste, his matured judgment, would enable 
him, were he here, to estimate their truthfulness, and to 
say whether there was any beauty in the sentiments they 
expressed. He might exclaim : 

" "We perish as the flowers do, 
And breathe away 
Our lives upon the passing wind, 
Even as they !" 

When I was engaged, while yet a boy, in the study of 
the law, it was one of my pleasures to attend before the 
good and gifted Riker, in the Criminal Court, where he 
presided with so much dignity, and which he quitted amid 
the regrets of all who had experienced his amenity, or 
knew his love of truth and right. Our good friend, Mr. 
Maxwell, in speaking of those of our brethren who have 
gone before us, reminds me, that in those days when he 
was so deservedly eminent, there were among the men who 
appeared in the same tribunal, the lamented Graham, the 
warm-hearted Blunt, the eloquent Hoffman, and many 
more whom it i& needless to recall — all gone, but still re- 
membered for their genius, their acquirements, and their 
virtues. 

Fortunately or unfortunately, there was then a throb of 
hope in my breast, that the time would come when even 
so great and solemn a responsibility as that of defending a 
man whose life was in jeopardy, should devolve upon me. 



The time at length arrived. It so happened that a poor 
Irishman was charged with the crime of murder. He was 
an humble person, with few friends and no money. Of 
his friends, the fondest, most devoted and persevering, 
was a true-souled little woman, born like her husband, and 
my own ancestors, in that beautiful country on whose 
bosom so many generations of noble beings have laid them- 
selves down in the last repose. She sought my aid in 
the hour of peril to him she loved, and I could not re- 
fuse it. None of my profession would. But it was with 
fear and trembling that I undertook the duty. If I had 
known the future terrors it was to bring upon my heart 
and brain, I would have faltered long ere I engaged in the 
cause. If ambition alone had impelled me to the under- 
taking, I would have dashed that impulse upon the ground 
and smiled upon the fragments of its ruins. 

Without considering at large how the fortunate result in 
that case was accomplished, I may say that, m purehj legal 
contemplation, the act proved was in any of its aspects a 
clear case of murder. It had not that awful feature, how- 
ever, in its moral bearings, and my aim was, of course to 
present, with whatever slender experience I possessed, all the 
extenuating circumstances that could be urged in behalf of 
the unhajipy prisoner. I remember, with painful distinct- 
ness, that on the eve of the trial I walked homeward with 
the clerk of the court, and the then vigorous and effective 
District Attorney, who informed me that the guilt of the 
accused was so flagrant that it would be his solemn duty to 
make all legitimate efforts to secure his conviction. I leave 
my impressions, under the circumstances, to be estimated by 
those who have ever incurred an equal responsibility. Had 
I been obliged to undertake this defence where I should not 



36 

have received that kindness that was so delicately and so 
thoughtfully extended to me in that court, I know not what 
the result would have been to me personally. If there be 
anything in this life dreadful to contemplate, it is the anni- 
hilation of the fondest hopes we hug to our bosom — the 
destruction of the means by which we strive to attain even 
temporary distinction, and the laceration of the heart by 
which great disappointments, aflPecting our destiny or pros- 
pects, are sure to be attended. The trial proceeded, and, in 
its progress, it would seem that the jury were influenced, in- 
sensibly, by the exercise of that kindly nature which, ra- 
diating its benignity on me, and then bestowing its beam 
and its fructifying influence on the jurors, disposed their 
minds in his behalf. The judge charged, and charged in a 
kindly spirit, but omitting no part of the duty exacted by 
the law, of which he was the exponent. The man was not 
convicted of murder, but of manslaughter. I can see the 
jury now, in that room of the City Hall — one of the apart- 
ments now occupied by that court over which my friend. 
Judge Daly, presides — I can see in that dimly-lighted cham- 
ber the prisoner, his frame heaving with convulsive sobs, and 
the handkerchief in which he buried his face saturated with 
the perspiration that streamed forth in his agony. I can see, 
as they entered, the foreman, as he delivered the verdict that 
restored the trembling criminal to life and hope, and the 
mild and approving look of the judge as that verdict was 
announced. Above all, I can never forget the speechless joy 
of my client, and the features of his poor wife, imbued with 
the tenderness and fervor that inspires the humblest peasant 
girl that treads the green surface of the old land — never 
shall I forget her as she fell on her knees, and with clasped 
hands and in a voice choking with emotion, breathed in low 



tones a prayer for the eternal preservation of liim whose de- 
parture you are here to mourn. 

We are told that the ocean, being in absolute repose, if a 
pebble were dropped in its centre, it is possible that the 
whole deep would be aifected, and that the ripple thus 
created would reach the remotest shore. It is even supposed 
by some that in the transmission of a message over the 
electric wire, each particle of the metal, from end to end, is 
moved whils the current is being sent forward. Nay, 
whether it be an effort of profound reasoning or of strong 
imagination, we have been assured that every word we utter 
so agitates all space, as to exercise an endless influence over 
the affairs of the world, and to be felt in some way through- 
out the universe. Imagination need not carry us so far to 
afford an assurance that the prayer of that poor woman, in 
that moment of heartfelt suj)plication and blessing, is even 
now pleading in behalf of our friend for the enjoyment of 
the infinite pleasures which crown a good life. 

My poor client was sent to the State prison for a long 
term of years. His wife almost daily presented herself in 
my office to learn from me what could be done to effect his 
deliverance by a pardon. The time at last came when 
Judge Kent benevolently interfered, and the man was set 
free. 

There came a bright, sparkling, Christmas day — and on 
its glorious morning that poor couple, with jo}^ul and 
grateful hearts, wended their way to St. Patrick's Cathedral, 
and there, kneeling side by side, and joining in the solemn 
rites of that old faith, made dear to me by so many sacred 
memories — the faith in which I live, and in which I mean to 
die — repeated, with gratitude, with piety, with fervor, the 
prayer she had before uttered, from the depths of her pure 
and eloquent heart. 



38 

The characteristics of Judge Kent have been described 
to-day. May I recur to the subject ? A prominent and 
striking feature in his intellectual organization, considered 
in reference to the ordinary demands of our profession, with- 
out confining myself to any particular department of it, was 
his gentleness of character. I do not mean that his mind 
had not intrinsically a power to develope all its energies, 
and to attain success, but it partook of all his nature. It 
was retreating, rarely satisfied with itself, not endowed with 
that confidence which we know is so useful to the advocate. 
He dreaded rude collisicn of thought — not that he was 
afraid of anything that might be said of him, but that he 
shrank from those assaults which m(m of hardier natures are 
accustomed to receive with coolness, repel with vigor, or 
treat with indifference. 

I remember a case, when the community were in a state 
of ferocious excitement, clamoring for the life of an unfortu- 
nate man, whom I believed then to be, and stiU believe to 
have been, an innocent one ; but who was sacrificed, in my 
judgment, to the blood-thirsty passions that sometimes sway 
the public mind. Judge Kent presided at his trial, and, on 
review, all his rulings were sustained. It occurred, however, 
to some gentlemen of the Bar, that one step might have 
been sanctioned in behalf of the accused, without any viola- 
tion of the strictest legal requirement. That step was not 
allowed, and the community was loud in its approval of the 
refusal ; and we, who differed from the public, took the 
liberty of expressing our dissent. At a public meeting of 
some members of the Bar, I took occasion to express my 
opinion to that effect ; though, in my allusions to the 
judicial action of the deceased, I did not fail to speak of 
him with that respect which his high character, his position, 
and his learning, commanded. 



39 

Now, this sensitiveness to censure, allied with courage, 
exhibited itself in Judge Kent. The next time we met he 
called me to him, and addressed me in a tone and manner 
that I shall never cease to remember, and in terms that it 
would be ill-timed and indecorous, perhaps, for me to men- 
tion ; but his words impressed me with the conviction that 
he had a yet nobler character than even, with my high 
regard for him, I had before ascribed to him. In all my 
future intercourse with him, from that moment, I could see 
that if his bearing had changed to me, it was only to become 
more friendly, and seemed to manifest still more the femi- 
nine grace and gentleness which so largely entered into his 
nature — the natural attendant of his soft tones, and kind 
manner, his quiet speech, and thought, and feeling. 

By some of the gentlemen who have already spoken, we 
have been informed as to his state of mind when he felt that 
the hand of death was upon him, and I am happy to hear 
that he was well .prepared to take his leave of earth, and 
descend to that grave toward which we are all hastening. 
I do not regard the mere circumstance of physical death 
with any poignant emotion of grief or sorrow ; but I do 
contemplate with awe the destruction of an intellect. I can 
never bear to think, that when the body returns to dust, 
the mind which animated, vivified, and controlled it, is for- 
ever lost. I say, with a great writer — 

" Shall tliat alone which thinks 
Be, like the sword, consumed before the sheath, 
By sightless lightning ?" 

I think the great dramatist made no greater failure than 
in his scene where he represents Hamlet holding in his hand 
the skull of the poor jester. It was an occasion which 
should have been surrounded with intense feeling, and made 



40 

eloquent with profound and elevating tliouglit. Shakespeare 
must here defer to Byron, whose memorable lines you may 
not regret to hear : 

" Look on its broken arch, its ruined wall, 
Its chamber desolate, and portals foul ; 
Yet this was once ambition's airy hall — 
The dome of thought — the palace of the soul. 
Behold, through each lack-lustre eyeless hole. 
The gay recess of wisdom and of wit. 
And passion's host, that never brooked control ; 
Can all saint, sage, or sophist, ever writ. 
People this lonely tower — this tenement relit ? 
Well did'st thou speak, Athena's wisest son : 
' All that we know is, nothing can be known.' " 

We do not believe that this intellect perishes, though 
the frame may decay and dissolve into its elements. We 
hold ourselves to be dignified, as we are enlightened and 
sustained, by that faith to which the older gentlemen who 
addressed this meeting might more properly refer. We 
believe in the sweet assurance and the promise so sweetly 
expressed by that other great poet, Whittier, of whom our 
country may so justly boast : 

" And Thou, oh, most compassionate ! 
Who didst stoop to our estate, 
Drinking of the cup we drain, 
Treading in our path of pain. 

" Through the doubt and mystery, 
Give us but thy steps to see, 
And the grace to draw from thence 
Larger hope and confidence. 

" Show thy vacant tomb, and let. 
As of old, the angels sit 
Whispering by its open door, 
Fear not ! for He has gone before." 



41 

Mr. Wm. Curtis Noyes said : 

Mr. Chairman : It is impossible to avoid, on such an 
occasion as tliis, some repetition, and it is to be hoped 
that any error of that sort may be excused. 

In 1822, an obscure law student, living in a country town, 
presented to the great Master of Equity Jurisprudence, in 
this country, an order for the purpose of obtaining his 
fiat, so that it might be entered by the Kegister. He ap- 
proached him with awe and diffidence. The order was 
perused, the magic words written on the back, and kindly 
he was told, " Young man, now take that to Brother Moss." 
There was something so familiar in the manner and mode 
of the address, that it led to conversation, and was follow- 
ed, on his part, by words of encouragement and kindness, 
which left an impression and produced an effect that 
never can be forgotten. He was at that time sitting in a 
small rear room, in his dwelling in Columbia street, in Al- 
bany, his table loaded with books and papers, the walls 
covered with books ; and it was there, undoubtedly, that 
the great legal opinions which have furnished guides for 
you, and for the Judiciary generally, ever since that period, 
were prepared and sent forth to the world. 

At the same time, there was another law student — dis- 
tinguished — a son of the Chancellor of the State of New- 
York, studying law in a town adjoining that already re- 
ferred to ; sitting every day at the feet of one of the 
wisest men I have ever known, the greatest common lawyer 
of his day — a man to whom "wisdom, at one entrance, was 
quite shut out" — and whose teachings were sought by 
others, like this young law student, anxious to drink in the 
words of wisdom and learning from his lips. 

We know very little of the student life of the one last 



42 

referred to ; but we do know that he led afterward a life 
of purity, of high professional attainment, of unaffected 
and unobtrusive piety ; that he became a distinguished 
judge ; that he received and laid down academic honors 
and professorial places ; and that, at last, he closed his 
career by a Christian's death. 

These two students followed different paths — one sought 
the interior of the State, the other its commercial metro- 
polis. They met for the first time, at the first Young 
Men's Political Convention ever held, I believe, in the State 
of New- York, in the year 1828 ; and he who presided over 
that body, twelve years afterward, when Governor of the 
State (now, as is generally understood, to be the premier 
of this country, and who is to be " the pilot to weather the 
storm" to which allusion has been made, and I trust, suc- 
cessfully), conferred upon one of them the office of Circuit 
Judge of the First Circuit of the State of New-York. 
That judge was William Kent, whose memory we have now 
met to honor. A friendship then commenced between 
these young men (for they were still young men) which 
has lasted until it has been unfortunately severed by death. 

It is not necessary to speak here, and in this presence, 
particularly of the life of one so well known and so uni- 
versally esteemed in this community. His large learning, 
his professional industry, the unspotted integrity which dis- 
tinguished him in all he did, in public and private, his 
social worth, his legal qualifications, have all been adverted 
to in terms of proper commendation. 

It may be allowed to speak of his professional integrity 
here, with a view to its practical uses and the benefit of 
his example, more in detail. He seems to have fashioned 
his life, in that respect, upon the model given by the good 
Bishop Saundeson, in his advice to Pleaders : 



43 

"Not to think, because he has the liberty of the Court, and per- 
haps the favor of the judge, and that, therefore, his tongue is his 
own, and he may speak his pleasure to the prrjudice of the adver- 
sary's person or cause ; and not to seek preposterously to win the 
name of a good lawyer by wresting and perverting good laws; or, 
the opinion of the best counsellor, by giving the worst and the 
shrewdest counsel ; and not to count it, as Protagoras did, the glory 
of his profession, by subtlety of wit, and volul)ility of tongue, to 
make the worst cause the better ; but like a good man, as well as a 
good orator, to use the power of his tongue to shame wit and impu- 
dence, and protect innocency ; to crush oppressors and succor the 
afflicted ; to advance justice and equity, and to help them to right 
that suffer wrong ; and to let it be as a ruled case to him, in all his 
pleadings, not to speak in any cause to wrest judgment." 

A careful observation of his life for more than thirty 
years (a truth which my brethren will attest), authorizes 
the remark that, in no case, did he go beyond or fall short 
of these principles. His mental qualifications, so far as his 
professional course was concerned, are evident from what 
has been already said. He was too gentle in his feelings 
and sympathies for the rough and harsh methods of trial 
by jury. He had a great distaste foi efforts of that descrip- 
tion, and never sought, but rather declined them. But in 
the argument of cases at Bar, in the discussion of strict 
legal questions, no man was more thorough, none more 
honest, none more sound and logical, than he. 

Allusion is undoubtedly allowable to some of the extra- 
ordinary cases in which he was engaged. They have been 
already mentioned ; but a participator in some of them may 
be allowed to speak of him in reference to them. He was 
engaged, in 1840, in an argument before the Court of 
Errors, then consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor, the 
Senate and the Chancellor, of the cause involving the con- 
stitutionality of the general banking law. He had for his 



44 



associates and antagonists such men as Ogden, and Spen- 
cer, and Sandford, all of whom have gone down to the 
grave covered with professional honors — and in the discus- 
sion of the important questions in that case, upon which, 
so far as he was concerned, the existence of the Bank of 
Commerce depended, and the continuance of the best hank- 
ing system this State has ever known, depended — in the 
discussion of these questions, he was fully equal to any who 
were engaged in the case. A reflection was produced by 
that argument which may have arisen in the minds of 
some of his brethren here assembled. He said everything 
so pleasantly, so gently, with so little effort, that he seemed 
to give scarcely any evidence of the power he possessed, 
and of the industry he had employed in making himself 
master of the subject. He never appeared to put forward 
his whole strength ; there seemed to be always behind a 
reserved power, which he could command at any time, but 
which he did not think it necessary to bring forward. It 
was obvious, too, that he made no parade or pretence of 
learning. Everything flowed naturally. A beautiful allu- 
sion took its proper place without effort. Nothing was 
strained, nothing forced — all was natural ; showing that 
what he had acquired had become a part of himself; was 
a portion of the man, and had been incorporated thoroughly 
into his mental constitution. 

At a later period of his life, and just four years before 
the day on which his death was announced, he commenced 
in the Court of Appeals, with others, the argument of what 
has been mentioned as the " Million Trust Case." There 
he had associates and antagonists with whom, if he was 
unsuccessful in presenting his views of the case, or in- 
ferior in power or learning, the contrast would have been 



45 



most unfortunate. Of the dead, he was associated with 
Mr. Butler ; and of the dead, among his antagonists, Mr. 
Hill and Mr. Beardsley — all honored names in our gar- 
ner of legal worthies — were ready to watch, and to ex- 
pose anything omitted, or improperly urged. By an ar- 
rangement between the counsel engaged in that cause, 
a particular department of it had been assigned to him 
in the Court below, and was, with a confidence that had 
no doubt, again intrusted to him in the Court of Ap- 
peals. He presented it, during an argument of two days, 
occupying some twelve hours in the whole, in the most 
forcible, in the clearest, and in the most satisfactory 
light. It was the mercantile part of the case, the integrity 
of the accounts, some questions of usury, the nature of 
the relations between this country and England, in regard 
to exchange, and the financial rules which regulate dealings 
in exchange — the whole question of commercial accounts 
and mercantile usage : and he presented everything regard- 
ing them with a fullness of knowledge, not only of mer- 
cantile and general law, but of the financial history of the 
time, in such a manner that it left none of us the slight- 
est doubt of the success of the cause in that particular. 

He was subsequently engaged, as I believe has been 
already mentioned, in what is known as the Barthrop Will 
Case. Having been present when he made a portion of 
his argument, and having gone over the same ground as 
his substitute in the case, after his health failed him, I 
may be permitted to say that there the reputation ac- 
quired by him was not only not lessened, but increased. 
It involved the entire doctrine of charitable uses, the orioin 
and history of the law upon that subject, an inquiry into 
the civil and ecclesiastical law, as well as the common and 



46 

statute law of England and of this State ; and lie made 
himself master of the suhject. Happy will he be who re- 
presents the same interest, when the next discussion shall 
take place, if he can approach to the power and success of 
the argument which William Kent presented when the 
cause was in his hands. 

And now, Mr. President, nothing is left us but the 
melancholy duty of paying our tribute of respect to the 
memory of a good and great man. He has suffered in con- 
trast with his father, having, as has been said, had the mis- 
fortune (and in some respects it is a misfortune) of " in- 
heriting a great name." Doubtless, it has its advantages — 
the advantages of early association — of imbibing, from such 
a father, day by day, and week by week, almost insensibly, 
the knowledge which he possesses, and which he willingly 
pours forth for the benefit of his son. But it has also its 
disadvantages. If he had been the son of one less distin- 
guished he would, doubtless, have shone with a greater 
lustre. 

It has been said, in reference to meetings of this de- 
scription, that they are almost entirely eulogistic. In some 
sense the remark is a true one ; but it would be difficult, 
if not impossible, to select the person who, in reference to 
him whom 'we now mourn, would suggest any fault in his 
character, except that which is common to every one, as a 
portion of the lot of his humanity. 

Happy should we all be that he was one of our number 
— ha})py may any Bar be, that has among its members 
such a man as William Kent ! 



47 



Ex-Kecorder Tillou said : 

May I add a few words to the memory of this excellent 
man ? I knew him for many years. I held for him senti- 
ments of respect and admiration. All that has been, on this 
occasion, said of him, is true. He was, really, a gentleman 
of many virtues, of extensive learning, of extraordinary abil- 
ities. Yet in the picture of his character, which has been 
so eloquently presented, all its hues and blendings may not 
have been fully delineated. 

His qualities of mind, of thought, of feeling, of judg- 
ment ; his refined delicacy and sensibility ; his modesty ; 
his good sense, and his devotion to truth and fidelity, shone 
forth in his conduct and his actions. While his talents, his 
industry, and erudition, produced admiration — his kindness 
of heart, his gentleness, his benevolence of disposition, and 
his unvarying and graceful affiibility, secured to him esteem 
and affection. 

Many years ago, when he was Circuit Judge, I was offi- 
cially associated with him, in the Court of Oyer and Ter- 
miner. The profound learning in criminal law which he 
then displayed, the ready promptness with which he applied 
legal principles and decided important questions, and his 
easy reference to authorities, manifested, as it seemed to me, 
a rare accuracy of memory and judgment. But, more than 
these, the candor, compassion, and impartiality, the dignity, 
and the uniform suavity, with which he presided, compelled 
respect and attachment. Even the condemned were dis- 
armed of all sense of injustice by his gentleness and kind- 
ness. 

It is said that the education of Judge Kent, his training, 
and the good influences which were around him, essentially 
contributed to form his character. So far as this is ap- 



48 

plicable to his mental acquisitions, his habits, his profes- 
sional pursuits, and the direction of his literary tastes, it, 
no doubt, is true ; but his amiable disposition, his affability, 
his gentleness and pure impulses, were gifts of nature which 
no art could create, no training could bestow. From these 
flowed the grace and beauty of his manner ; from these, his 
power over the hearts of others. 

It is related of Petrarco, that, upon the trial of a case, he 
was summoned as a witness, and after the examination of 
the other witnesses he was called, and that on his oifer- 
ino' to be sworn, the magistrate shut the Book, and said, 
" No, Petrarco, your word is sufficient." However question- 
able may have been the legality of the act, this public 
homage to that distinguished man was a high honor. Ages 
have i)assed, and yet the record of it remains ; generations 
have read it ; ages and future generations will come, and 
still the record will be read, and the great virtue of truth 
will, for all time, be known as one of those of which that 
fascinating poet and scholar was possessed. And this high 
quality belonged also to Judge Kent : he was its votary, its 
worshipper, its practiser ; he was tenacious in his strict 
adherence to it, in spirit as well as letter, and therefore was 
candid in all his statements : no suppression of a fact, no 
equivocation, no vague, ambiguous statements, would be 
tolerated by him ; the truth he regarded as the basis of 
honor. 

Judge Kent, in his friendships, was fervent, constant, and 
unfaltering, as is verified by all those who stood in that 
relationship to him. On an occasion similar to this (the 
decease of his friend. Judge Edwards), in this same room, 
he pronounced a eulogy to the memory of the deceased, emi- 
nently impressive and eloquent — long rememembered for its 



49 



elegance and its taste, and for tlie deep and exquisite feeling 
which he then manifested. 

Again : Judge Kent was not only eminent as an advo- 
cate, but as Chamber counsel. And herein he was not only 
a legal adviser, but also a pacificator. Not only did he 
place before his client a legal view and exposition of his 
rights and remedies, but presented to him also a statement 
of the consequences of litigation, whether successful or un- 
successful, and candidly advised him what was best for his 
interests, his comfort, or his rejuitation : his advice was that 
of a kind friend, as well as counsel. 

He was opulent in all that is ojiulent. He was wealthy 
in mental acquisition, in a vast store of learning, in a mul- 
titude of happy recollections, and in the resj)ect, friendship, 
and attachment of the good, the virtuous, and the talented. 
He was pure in mind, in thought, in im23ulse. His was an 
uncommon union of great virtues and great abilities. His 
life is now a vision of the past — but one which presents a 
beautiful and interesting episode in human history. 



E N '10 



'Pn 



